Feb

14

Google to Test Video Ads

February 14, 2008 |

According to the NYTimes Bits blog, Google is slowly introducing video ads next to its text ad format.

I haven’t been able to track one of these ads down yet, but they are supposed to go live today. According to Google, this new ad format corresponds to the recent changes in how the company displays search results:

Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products and user experience, said in an interview that the change reflects the evolution of the once-sparse Google pages. Last year Google introduced what it calls universal search, which mixes images, videos, news stories and other types of information with the standard text links to Web pages.

Because we are more drawn to images than text, the text ads aren’t very effective in this environment, according to Mayer.

According to Mayer, the ads will at first only display a plus icon that will reveal the video content. That way, the advertisers can put links to movie trailers and other video content behind these ads without cluttering up the interface. Right now, Google is using a similar approach with search results that include YouTube videos.

To me this move makes sense. Google is interesting in enabling its advertisers to use a wider range of formats and is doing this in a way that is not going to upset its users. Once they start using more graphical ads, my reaction might be different. However, as long as there are no dancing aliens hawking car insurance mixed in with my Google searches and the ads are relevant and not moving,blinking flash ads that cover the screen, Google should be on the safe side.


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